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Bertram Brooker
| death_place = | nationality = English-Canadian | field = Writing, Painting, Music | training = | movement = Abstract impressionism | works = | patrons = | influenced by = LeMoine Fitzgerald | influenced = | awards = 1936 Governor General's Award for Fiction }} Bertram Richard Brooker (March 31, 1888 - March 22, 1955) was a Canadian poet, novelist, painter, and musician, who worked as an advertising agency executive. Life Brooker was born in the London borough of Croydon, England, to Mary Ann (Skinner) and Richard Brooker. He moved to Portage la Prairie, Manitoba in 1905 with his family. In 1913 he rented a movie theatre in Neepawa, Manitoba. That same year he married Mary Aurilla (“Rill”) Porter. In 1914 he became editor of the Portage Review, a local newspaper. In 1915 he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Engineers in Winnipeg. After World War I he worked for The Winnipeg Tribune, The Regina Leader-Post and The Winnipeg Free Press. He moved to Toronto, Ontario in 1921 and joined the staff of Marketing magazine. Brooker served as the magazine's editor and publisher from 1924 until 1926. In 1923, he published his first book, Subconscious Selling. In 1929 he joined the staff of the J.J. Gibbons Advertising Agency. In 1931 Brooker was embroiled in a controversy about nudity in art, when a painting of his was removed from a gallery exhibition because it contained nudity.Biography of Bertram Brooker, retrieved on May 25th 2007. Brooker later wrote the essay "Nudes and Prudes" in 1931 as a rebuke.Nudes and Prudes by Bertram Brooker, retrieved on May 25th 2007. In 1940 he joined the staff of the MacLaren Advertising Co. Brooker is regarded as the earliest Canadian abstract impressionist. He was strongly influenced in his development as an artist by LeMoine Fitzgerald. Quotations "Great art is essentially useless, in the practical sense. It appeals purely to the spirit." (1929)Bertram Brooker 1888-1955, National Gallery of Canada. Web, Mar. 5, 2015. Recognition In 1936, Brooker's novel Think of the Earth (1936) became the earliest winner of the Governor General's Award for Fiction. Publications Poetry * Sounds Assembling: The poetry of Bertram Brooker (edited by Birk Sproxton). Winnipeg: Turnstone Press, 1980. Novels *''Think of the Earth''. Toronto: Nelson, 1936; Toronto: Brown Bear, 2000. *''The Tangled Miracle: A Mortimer Hood mystery'' (as "Huxley Hearne"). London & Toronto: Nelson, 1936. *''The Robber: A tale at the time of the Herods''. Toronto: Collins, 1949; New York: Duell, 1949. Non-fiction *''Subconscious Selling''. 1923.Bertram Brooker: University of Manitoba Libraries. Web, Mar. 4, 2015. *''Layout Technique in Advertising'' (as "Richard W. Surrey"). New York: McGraw-Hill, 1929. *''Copy Technique in Advertising'' (as "Richard W. Surrey"). New York: McGraw-Hill, 1930. *''Nudes and Prudes 1931. Art *''Elijah (drawings). New York: W.E. Rudge, 1930. *''L.L. Fitzgerald and Bertram Brooker: Their drawings''. Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1975. Collected editions *''The Wrong World: Selected stories and essays'' (edited by Gregory Betts). Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2009. Edited *''Yearbook of the Arts in Canada''. Toronto: Macmillan, 1929-1936. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Bertram Brooker, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, May 17, 2014. See also *List of Canadian poets References *Dennis Reid, Bertram Brooker 1888-1955. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1973. Fonds * Bertram Brooker papers at University of Manitoba archives Notes External links ;Poems *Brooker, Bertram Richard (2 poems) at Representative Poetry Online ;Prose *"Nudes and Prudes" ;Art *Gallery of: Bertram Brooker at the National Gallery of Canada ;Books *Bertram Brooker at Amazon.com ;About *Bertram Richard Brooker in the Canadian Encyclopedia *Bertram Brooker at York University *Bertram Brooker 1888-1955 at the National Gallery of Canada *Bertram Brooker: Writer, painter, musician, Art History Archive - Canadian Art *A Philosophy of the Verb: Bertram Brooker’s early Canadian mystical-modernist verse, Studies in Canadian Literature 30:1 (2005). *"First Fruits: The world and spirit paintings" at Concordia University *"The Living Soul of Man: Bertram Brooker and expressionist theatre". Studies in Canadian Literature, 6:1 (Spring 1985). Category:1888 births Category:1955 deaths Category:Canadian economics writers Category:Canadian journalists Category:Canadian novelists Category:Canadian painters Category:English emigrants to Canada Category:Naturalized citizens of Canada Category:British economics writers Category:English journalists Category:English novelists Category:English painters Category:Modern painters Category:People from Croydon Category:Writers from Manitoba Category:People from Portage la Prairie Category:Governor General's Award winning fiction writers Category:20th-century poets Category:Canadian poets Category:English-language poets Category:Modernist poets Category:Poets